Thursday, May 18, 2017

After decorating the tree, we were all for the Christmas spirit.
We got a lot of hay for the horse and the boys had a ton of fun unloading all of it and climbing on it.

J.D. worked on the booth for the hunting guide company... he is so talented!

One day I want my kitchen to be this rustic! I love it!

Since the weather was so cold, we played a lot at the church. Monty loves to pose!

I worked on a stocking for Hazyn too!

J.D. and Dawson got to go to a Jazz game! Dawson signed up for basketball this year and part of signing up is getting jazz tickets!

We celebrated Monty's 3rd birthday!! He was SOOO excited for his birthday and just couldn't wait to have a party!

We went swimming at the indoor pool in Fillmore! Monty loves to swim and it is such a huge benefit to have an indoor pool in the community! There wasn't any other members of the community who wanted to swim that day so we ended up with the pool to ourselves!

The owners even let us have these huge pool toys for free!

Monty was just happy to have kids to play with. He didn't even care about the presents, it was a huge bonus! He got a basketball hoop for indoors, a big dump truck, dusty crophopper toys, and lots of candy.

He is our happy kid, and you could definitely see his happiness shining through his entire body.

We love Christmas time and have so many traditions. We read a story every night, we read a scripture to go along with the story and really try hard to remember the Savior. The kids watch the Nativity movies throughout the whole month. It really helps remind us of why we celebrate Christmas.

This year Dawson asked if Santa was true. I said, "Absolutely! I still believe in Santa. I don't care what anyone says. Santa is the spirit of giving! He may not exist physically, but then again he does through each of us. We give like the Savior gave to us." It was a pretty special moment and Dawson didn't question it at all after that. He believed in Santa. I love it!

My parents bought our entire family tickets to go ride the Polar Express in Heber, UT! The anticipation leading up to this event was all worth it!
One the way up there, we taught Monty what the lights of the stop light mean. We were parked watching the light switch from color to color. We would say, "What does green mean?" And Monty would say, "Green Go!" We would laugh every time because it sounded like 'gringo!'

My family is full of so much energy and we danced and danced and sang the entire time. We saw Santa and he gave each person a bell.

My dad even had fun!

Auntie Jamie got to hold Hazyn for a lot of the ride.

We even saw the north pole!

We didn't see Dawson because he sat with all the older cousins and was having too much fun!

Here is Grammy and Grandpa with all their grandkids after the ride!

We stayed in Orem that night and the adults got to eat at Sakura for the night while the older cousins babysat the younger ones at the hotel. This is probably one of my most favorite traditions.

The next day we had to get home for the Christmas program for our little town. Dawson was part of the program this year and was determined to not miss it. I sewed his costume that afternoon and it turned out pretty good! We got to see Santa finally!

Afterwards we went to our friends the Lemon's house and played games, and watched Rudolph come! We played that game with the whipped cream! I don't think I have ever laughed so hard!

Monty and Dawson wanted to play it all night! We even got J.D. in on it!

We had Parker run through the mountain behind us with a long stick and a red light taped to the top. We thought he would try to hide himself, but he didn't. He went running out in the open and then totally buffed it going down the hill, then tried to keep going... All of the adults couldn't breathe for minutes afterwards because we were laughing so hard. It was an unforgettable moment.

We went home and took pics in front of the Christmas tree.

We went upstairs to our bedroom and watched the old school Christmas movie. The kids loved it and soon fell asleep. We woke up and all ran downstairs to see what Santa had brought!
Monty didn't even care about his bike, he just wanted the watch he got in his stocking! lol!

Dawson got a pellet gun, and Hazyn got a lot of new clothes with some shape blocks!

The kids loved Christmas and spent the morning looking at everything, playing, and showing us all the new things they discovered!

The next day, J.D. and I went to Richfield to get ourselves a new TV and my Christmas present... curtains! I was so excited! I keep wanting all these new little additions to the house and each holiday that's all I ask for.

We went to bed so happy and so grateful for the Savior and all that he had given us. I'm so grateful for how hard J.D. works so we can give our kids things. It's not a big Christmas, but i wouldn't want it any other way. I loved that we went to Church that day and got to feel the spirit so strong.

It definitely helps remind me of what is important.

Sweet tender moments like these. It doesn't matter if the house is clean, or if our hair is always done...

For New Years we just spend a quiet night at our house with the family. Dawson and I were the only ones to make it to midnight and watch it on TV. It was a quiet way to start the new year!

First, I was called to be in the primary presidency. We have 120 kids in our primary, so it's a big responsibility! I am way excited, but very nervous. I don't feel adequate for callings like this. I know Satan wants me to feel that way... on the flip side, I feel like I have always felt inadequate for anything in life.

The next week was Andee's birthday. She would have been 4 this year.

My mom brought up a sash for her headstone and we let balloons go again.

It means so much to us to have so many family members come and join us for this day.

It was Hazyn's first year to celebrate Andee's birthday as a mortal. I'd like to think she was there with us in spirit with Andee in the years before.

And there they went... off with messages of love for Andee.

This month Monty and Hazyn grew up so fast. Hazyn was sitting up and crawling all over! Monty was right there with her for every milestone.

J.D. had tons of handy man work as usual. He is always booked out for months, but I love posting pics when he finishes project. He built this bridge and you can't see one piece of hardware. We did kiss on it after placing it :)

We let Hazyn start wearing beanies this month too! She didn't keep them on for very long, so we had to hurry and get pics.

This month I ended up in the ER. I hadn't been feeling good for months and I kept telling J.D. that I felt like it was getting worse. One night, I was in so much pain I couldn't move. I couldn't reach my phone to call J.D. to get help either. J.D. had fallen asleep downstairs with Monty. I was throwing up with excruciating pain. Finally, after a prayer, J.D. came upstairs and was able to help me up. I got through the night, and then we went to the ER in the morning. I had a bacterial infection from having no good bacteria left in my abdominal area. I had been on antibiotics 6 times this year for mastitis and surgeries. Not once did the docs put me on a probiotic. This led to killing off all the good bacteria and a severe attack and infection. It took 3 months to recover.

During this time of recovery, I wasn't in a lot of pain because the meds were working so well. We were able to go to kanab for Thanksgiving. After a long day of cooking and playing... this is how dinner ended.

We came home that weekend and put the tree up. Many of you know my sweet little Monty hates clothes and I can't hardly keep them on him for more than 5 minutes. I dress him about 20 times a day. I soon gave up on trying, but in the mean time we had many days of nakedness or diapers only.

As we decorated the tree, I eventually found Monty with less and less clothing until he was naked... naked and decorating the Christmas tree. I pray this isn't a tradition...

It was a really funny way to end the month of November and start the Christmas season!

I thought September went by fast, October and November went by before I could blink! It started with General Conference. Our friends the Shakespear's invited us up to their cabin in Oakley. We love these guys and loved being up in the mountains away from reality for a bit. We took family pics and were somewhat successful....

The boys...

and then the boys fighting over who got to hold Hazyn...

Dawson tried to make the situation better which lasted long enough for this quick snap...

Then I got some cute pics of our little spitfire...

And then we tried a few family pics... but Dawson was never looking at the camera..

So we ended with an upset baby and trying to get pics of her...which ended with me and her.

We played games, had lots of snacks, and the kids played and played and played. We went for a four wheeler ride around the entire village too.

The boys got up extra early and went hunting both mornings.

They saw some pretty cool things, but didn't actually shoot anything.

Thank you Cole and Courtney for an amazing weekend!

Flag football continued into October for us and Carson came up to see a game of Dawson's.

Can you believe the Carson is that tall and only 11 months older than Dawson? Dawson is tall for his age, which makes Carson a giant!

We went to Kanab for a weekend and took our sweet little puppy. The kids just want to sleep by her and cuddle with her.

She is the best puppy and Hazyn loves her!!

Of course, Monty is always wanting to get in the picture or at least be there if Hazyn is there....

I loved watching my kids play in the warm weather outside.

These are moments that I never want to forget.

J.D. and I got to go out for a late walk through the town and ended up at Houston's for some pie and ice cream!

We went to Layne's Homecoming football came for his senior year! He is soooo amazing and the best athlete ever! I'm a proud Aunt that's for sure!

The bleachers weren't working for me, Hazyn, and Monty. So we went out to the grass and enjoyed the extra space while eating pizza.

The kids were much happier!

We had a dinner at Clara and Bryant's one night and Hazyn ended up without clothes.. but she was so cute with the cowboy hat! J.D. was having a blast doing a photoshoot with her in this hat.

We had a few other photo moments with Hazyn this month. We got the cutest pig tails with all that hair!

And then we tried a baseball cap for another day.

We started renovating the basement. I wanted to have it done by Christmas.. but you will eventually find out that we didn't make that deadline.

Right before Halloween Dawson got braces!

He was way excited to get braces, and they didn't even hurt. He had zero pain. However, on the night of Halloween he went to eat a sucker and one of the brackets came off. He had to learn the hard way what he could and couldn't eat.

We pulled out the costumes early this year and Monty couldn't resist trying on everything every day.

The night of Halloween we went out trick or treating the old school way besides the trailer.

We ended at Grandma Marjorie's house! Monty was an elf, Dawson was a clown, and Hazyn was an owl. She was so done by the end of the night. Poor thing lasted hours without a nap.

I was a nurse... mainly because it was something I had in the closet for pj's and I wanted to be comfy.

About Me

We are the Stevens family and live in Holden, UT. I am a stay at home mom and love every minute of it! J.D. (my hunners) works at a place where they store propane and other gases deep down into the Earth's salt caverns. We have four beautiful children; two handsome little boys, a beautiful little girl her on earth, and one beautiful little girl in Heaven. While we miss our sweet Andee M’lee, who was stillborn at 36 weeks, we know she is too pure and sacred to be here on Earth. Dawson, 8 years old, is a proud big brother who is very protective of his siblings. He is very in tune with them, and always prays for everyone to always be okay. He loves school and friends. Monty is ALL BOY and knows what he wants. He is hilarious and it's really hard to get mad at him without laughing. Hazyn is the sweetest little girl. She is definitely spoiled with love from her brothers. Our family continues to grow with more laughter and happiness every day.